- Bayern hit nine, Real Madrid and Liverpool win as new Champions League kicks off
- Author John Grisham joins bid to save Texas death row inmate
- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
- Smith grateful to McCullum for launching his England career
- Arizona to ask court to rule on voting rights
- Villa make perfect start on Champions League return after 41-year absence
- Israeli supply chain infiltration likely behind Hezbollah pager blasts: analysts
- Rodgers backs Celtic to be 'really competitive' in Champions League
- Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
- Storm Boris toll rises to 22 in central Europe
- Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts
- Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants
- Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Australia's Zampa accepts Ashes chances remote as 100th ODI looms
- UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation
- Marseille complete signing of French international Rabiot
- Easterby to fill in as Ireland coach while Farrell is with the Lions
- Hezbollah in Lebanon hit by wave of deadly pager blasts
- Postecoglou taken aback by criticism of his second season success claim
- US, European stocks rise on retail sales, rate cut expectations
- Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr part ways with coach Castro
- Scottish government backs Glasgow to stage troubled 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Storm Boris toll rises to 21 in central Europe
- Instagram, under pressure, tightens protection for teens
- Inflation slows again in Canada to 2%
- US, European stocks rise on eve of Fed rate decision
- EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
- Trump returns to campaign trail after assassination scare
- Activist urges repatriation of Native Americans dead in Paris 'human zoo'
- US retail sales see slight rise, beating expectations
- US Fed begins two-day meeting set to end with rate cut
- Exploding Hezbollah pagers wound hundreds across Lebanon
- Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs to plead not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capital
- 'I am a rapist,' Frenchman tells trial over mass rape of wife
Dozens treated in Chile for suspected pollutant exposure
More than 100 people have sought medical treatment this week after suspected exposure to a pollutant in an area known as the "Chilean Chernobyl" for the environmental impact of heavy industry.
Local authorities declared an environmental emergency in the area, suspending classes and banning physical activity, after the Quintero Air Quality Station reported a concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the air five times the norm on Monday.
A total of 105 people -- among them 50 children -- have sought help in the towns of Quintero and Puchuncavi in the Valparaiso region, complaining of headaches, itchy eyes and throats, and nausea, the SMA environmental agency said late Wednesday.
The Quintero prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the incident.
Quintero and Puchuncavi, two coastal towns with some 50,000 inhabitants combined, have been deemed "sacrifice zones" since 1958, when the Chilean government converted what was an fishing and farming community into an industrial hub.
Today it houses four coal-fired thermoelectric plants and oil and copper refineries.
Environmental group Greenpeace dubbed the area the "Chilean Chernobyl" after hundreds of people sought medical help for symptoms ranging from dizziness and headaches to vomiting blood and paralysis of the extremities in an episode in 2018.
On Wednesday, Chile's environmental superintendent Emanuel Ibarra ordered six companies operating in the area to "limit their productive activity, without harming the primary supply."
The companies include Chile's principal fuel company, Copec.
On Tuesday, the regulator also ordered measures to reduce pollution from the operations of state mining company Codelco -- the world's largest copper producer -- and the Aes Andina thermoelectric plant in the area.
Codelco, which is responsible for eight percent of the world's copper supply, said in a statement that its Ventanas smelter halted operations on Monday and will "maintain a voluntary suspension of operations" for maintenance.
P.Silva--AMWN